Do consumers stick with good-looking broadcasters? The mediating and moderating mechanisms of motivation and emotion

Abstract

Prior studies reported mixed results on how consumers respond to broadcasters’ physical attractiveness. To shed new light on this research gap, this study investigates the influence of broadcasters’ physical attractiveness on consumer engagement in live streaming e-commerce, with the mediating and moderating mechanisms of consumer motivation and emotion. Data were obtained from 810 consumers on the Taobao live streaming platform in China using a survey questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the data. Results show that broadcasters’ physical attractiveness is positively related to consumer engagement. Moreover, consumer motivation and emotion play mediating and moderating mechanisms in this relationship. The findings provide implications for researchers and business managers in understanding, recruiting, training, and developing broadcasters and influencing consumers’ motivation, emotion, and behavior in the live streaming e-commerce context.